The present invention relates to an improved powdered egg white and more particularly to an improved free flowing instantly dissolved and non-dusty powdered egg white and to its method of manufacture.
Although the manufacture of spray dried or pan dried and milled egg white are commonly known processes now employed in manufacturing large quantities of powdered egg white, the egg white thus manufactured still exhibits certain undesirable qualities and particularly is somewhat objectionable in that the dried egg white does not readily flow nor dissolve rapidly enough and includes a high percentage of dust-like particles. Attempts to improve these physical characteristics of the powdered egg white have failed to result in an increase in the rate of the water solubility.
Attempts have been made to improve the solubility and flow and to reduce the dust by agglomeration of the egg white particles into larger particles. It has been suggested, for example, that such an agglomeration be done by partially wetting the dried powder and by then redrying is so that the powder tends to ball-up or form lumps which facilitate powder flow. This agglomerated egg white when used in the preparation of food products has tended to form gummy partially rehydrated layers surrounding powdery centers. Considerable agitation and other effort has been required to fully disperse and dissolve the egg white in water.
Attempts to improve the physical characteristics of the dried egg white including its solubility have also included co-drying the egg white with a sugar solution followed by an agglomeration step. This gave some improvement in the flow and appearance of the product but did not result in improved dissolving properties.
It is known in the art to improve the flow characteristics of egg white by the dry admixing of spray dried egg white with from 25 to 50% of powdered lactose and then adding to the dry mix an amount of moisture of the order of 15 to 20% to form an initially moist sticky porous random aggregate which is subsequently dried, and process of this type is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,950,204 and 3,062,665; however, this procedure does not appear to provide the egg white particles with a uniform or subtantially complete coating of the lactose.